A SHORT HISTORY OF REVIVAL
"O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years!" Habakkuk 3:2
This week, my wife and I watched a remarkable film called The Last Reformation: The Beginning, made by Torben Søndergaard, a Danish evangelist and filmmaker Lebo Akatio. Here is the link: The Last Reformation
The movie is about the power of God and the simple idea that disciples of Jesus can go out and impact the world as was the case in the first century and outlined in the Bible in the Book of Acts. The film presented a few key ideas at the start and this is a quote from the filmmakers:
“Christianity came to Greece and became a philosophy; it came to Italy and became an institution; it came to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became a business”.
I thought that this was a succinct overview of how the church has moved away from its core mission of making disciples and turned into an institution and a business.
Currently, we are living at a time when all the cards seem to be stacked against the individual, faith and freedom. Christians and their beliefs increasingly will be seen as a threat to the good order of society, as the foundations of Western civilization are no longer taught in the rush to tear down the pillars of “white privilege” and “colonialism”. You wonder what hope God has with the deck stacked against him?
The good news is that God is not dead, as claimed by Nietzsche in 1882 and recent reports of His death, like those of Mark Twain in 1897, “are an exaggeration”. God is at work in the world and the events of history, under God’s control, are moving towards the time when Jesus, the Son of God, will return and rule from the throne of his ancestor, King David. An overview of the rise and fall of kingdoms was given to the prophet Daniel in dreams and visions, about 2600 years ago. God knows the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end (Isaiah 46:10), as hard as that is for us to understand.
As I thought about these issues, one of the things that came to mind is the various periods of revival, when people turned back to God, over the last 3,000 years. These periods were where God sovereignly turned people towards Him. There was a dramatic impact on the societies where there was revival as the fear of God gripped the hearts of men. In many cases revival occurred when evil appeared to have gained the upper hand and any hope for a return to God’s ways as outlined in the Bible, seemed impossible.
The history of Western civilization is being pushed into the background and very few universities today feature any element of the significance of Christianity and its impact on our culture. The story of revival and the influences in the United Kingdom, Europe, the US and even Australia, are largely unknown. So – in this edition of “Sons of Issachar News”, I am attempting to write briefly about some of the times where despite things looking desperate, God revived His people and changed the direction of society and history. This is a huge topic but I will try to provide a high level view after studying the history of revival for the last 10 years and even interviewing some who had a front row seat.
Eight years ago, my wife Kate and I, headed off to Europe in search of the well-springs of revival. The Miriam-Webster dictionary defines revival as:
‘an act or instance of reviving : the state of being revived: such as
a : renewed attention to or interest in something
b : a new presentation or publication of something old
c(1) : a period of renewed religious interest (2) : an often highly emotional evangelistic meeting or series of meetings
2 : restoration of force, validity, or effect (as to a contract)”
I prefer a rather simpler definition from the original Latin word revivere which means “to live again”. It seemed to us that as a society, we had lost the capacity for real life and we needed to find our way to the source of life – God Himself.
My wife and I had both been believers in God for 30 years and had led a small rural church meeting in the years preceding our “revival tour”. The signs to us were clear: society had moved irrevocably away from God and His ways. Of course at that stage we couldn’t have believed that Western societies would embrace gay marriage, abortion of babies even at full-term, euthanasia, transgender rights and myriad other issues that set man’s law against God’s law, which now are evident every day. It seemed to us that even though the majority of people declared that they believed in God, our societies had set their direction in opposition to Him. As we prayed and sought understanding, we realized that this situation was not unique in history.
King Josiah
About 600 years before the birth of Jesus, things had become desperate in Jerusalem. The high point of the Kingdom of Israel was around 1000 BC, when King Solomon reigned and the first temple was built. After that, the Kingdom split into two, with 10 of the tribes moving away from Jerusalem and only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin remaining in what became the southern kingdom, based in Jerusalem. The Hebrew prophets warned the nation but Israel continued in its evil ways and the northern kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians in 740BC. The southern kingdom of Judah also was headed for disaster as they rejected God. Remarkably, King Josiah came to the throne in 640BC when he was just 8 years old and after a series of exceptionally wicked kings. God was at work to draw Josiah’s heart back to Him and Josiah began a series of reformations, starting when he was around 16 years old. When he was 26 years old, Josiah oversaw the repair and restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem and at this time Hilkiah, the High Priest, discovered the Book of the Law – the Torah, which had been completely forgotten. The details of what happened are outlined in 2 Kings 22 and 2 Chronicles 34 & 35. King Josiah realized that his people had greatly sinned against God as the Book of the Law (the first 5 books of the Old Testament) was read. He was devastated and gathered the people together and rededicated the nation to be in covenant with God. Josiah re-established worship in the Temple and eliminated any of the idols and also removed the idolatrous priests. King Josiah returned the people of Jerusalem to God and God’s judgement was stayed for a period. The revival under King Josiah began with the reading of the Book of the Law – the Torah, repentance and prayer. These are the key precursors to revival right up until the present day.
Many periods of revival took place after this and the most well-known is when John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus by preaching repentance and baptising people in the Jordan (Luke 3). There was remarkable revival on the Day of Pentecost when Peter preached his famous short sermon (Acts 2) and 3,000 Jewish believers committed their lives to Jesus. God is at work across all ages and there are undoubtedly revivals taking place today.
My focus on in this short article is on some significant historical revivals in the UK and US that changed the direction of history. Revival is the only hope to change the direction of Western societies as outlined in Dr Michael L. Brown’s new book “Revival Or We Die: A Great Awakening Is Our Only Hope”. The book provides a personal journey of Dr Brown’s experience of revival that changed his life, as well as some of the historical events where wider revivals changed societies.
The UK Revival Under John Wesley
John and Charles Wesley had an extraordinary impact on the UK and beyond and this impact continues even to our current times. After returning from Georgia in 1737, aged 34 years old and with a sense of being abject failure, John Wesley was impacted dramatically one evening when he heard the Moravians, a reformist Christian group that originated in what is now the Czech Republic, preaching on the street in London and reading from the Bible. It was in the London suburb of Aldersgate on 24th May, 1738 that Wesley heard someone reading from Martin Luther’s preface to St Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Wesley described what happened in these words:
“while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."
Wesley had some difficult years before his conversion and he realized that his zeal was not enough. His transformation was a mysterious work of grace and the Holy Spirit directed his work and that of his brother Charles, who became a famous hymn writer. Being denied access to church buildings because of his “enthusiasm”, Wesley held outdoor meetings and in 1743 published the “rules for Methodist societies”, which eventually became a new denomination. The impact of Wesley was remarkable on UK society and it is estimated that he rode more than 20,000 miles on horseback to bring the gospel through the United Kingdom. Many thousands were converted under Wesley’s ministry and many scholars believe that if not for Wesley’s influence, there would have been a bloody revolution as was seen in France. David Beidal writes:
“Methodism unleashed an army of “little Christ’s” all over Europe. They cared for the poor, took in unwanted and abused children, fought unjust laws and labor conditions, visited prisoners, and battled against slavery; They joined hands with the Apostles and “turned the world upside down.” Eventually compassion became fashionable.”
Wesley’s preaching and outreach had a major impact on society and his social concerns and care for the poor is seen today in the successors to Methodism.
George Whitfield and the First American Awakening
America was founded by Christian believers fleeing persecution. The spiritual roots ran deep and when William Penn and the Quakers moved to Pennsylvania, they came with a vision that is significant to this day :
“That the people would be self-governing from within by the love of God and by an inner moral compass guided by the New Testament," he said. "The more that they would be governed from within, the less outward government that they would need." The Quakers proceeded to avidly live out this belief that men should be ruled from within by God, not from without by government. "An official from England came trying to find the government for Philadelphia, and he had trouble finding it," Hyatt said. "And when he did find it, there was nobody there because the governing council only met once or twice a year as they felt there was a need."
In the early 1700s, believers cried out to God in prayer and it is said that “Most of the churches set apart days to seek the Lord by prayer and fasting. Even the civil governments were concerned and they appointed days of fasting and prayer."
A key person at this time was the Rev. Jonathan Edwards, who started at Yale University at 13 years of age and graduated when he was just 17 years old. His sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” preached on 8th July 1741 had a powerful impact and seemed to be start of a remarkable revival in the US.
Into this milieu came George Whitefield from the United Kingdom in 1739 - https://billyebrim.org/george-whitfield-from-england/ , whose fame as he set foot in the US could probably be equated to the Beatles, prior to their arrival in the US in the 1960s. He had a remarkable voice and presence that held thousands captive and in 7 visits to the US, he brought the good news of “God’s unmerited favour” to the 13 new colonies. He would preach to groups up to 25,000 and speak for hours without notes.
The impact of Whitefield was extraordinary as God used him to stir the hearts of people to turn back to Him. This foundation in God is significant for the US and most of the Founding Fathers were Christian believers. There was a lasting influence on American morality and in his famous book “Democracy in America” published in 1835 by the French sociologist Alexis de Tocqueville, he said “America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great”.
Later Revivals in the US and UK
A second Great Awakening occurred in the USA and Yale University was greatly impacted by Jonathan Edwards’ grandson, Timothy Dwight the Yale President and in 1801 revival came to Yale. Charles Finney had a significant impact preaching in the Eastern US between 1824 and 1837 prior to the Civil War. The foundations of the US from Christian revival are significant even today as surveys show that more than 80% of the US population believes in the God of the Bible.
In the UK, the most famous revival is the Welsh Revival which started in 1904. Steven Pettit writes:
“As revival began, a preacher named Evan Roberts said, “I have a vision of all Wales being lifted up to heaven. We are going to see the mightiest revival that Wales has ever known—Let us pray that the Almighty will pour down His grace.” Roberts was 26 years old, passionate and energetic, and masses of people came to hear him preach. No venues were large enough to hold the crowds.”
The revival had its major impact in the coal mines of Wales and it is said that the pit ponies that pulled the coal wagons, stopped responding because the miners stopped swearing. The pubs cleared out as men turned away from drinking and carousing. It is estimated that 100,000 people gave their lives to Jesus in that year and similar revivals occurred in South Africa and Australia around the same time.
Just a few years later, in 1906, a remarkable revival occurred in Azusa Street, Los Angeles. This was around the same time as the devastating San Francisco earthquake. The revival starting in Azusa Street, gave rise to the Pentecostal movement and it is estimated today that 550 million people trace their spiritual ancestry back to the revival in Azusa Street .
This is just a thumbnail sketch of some of the significant revivals that have impacted Western society. I write this brief history to stimulate interest as the history of revival is not taught in any schools or universities and is little known even in the church. I recommend Michael Brown’s book for a slightly more detailed overview and in the face of all the challenges we have in our world today, I agree with Brown’s assertion: “a great awakening is our only hope”. How does such an awakening occur? Crying out to God!
The Revival on The Isle of Lewis 1949-1952
My own interest in and understanding of revival stems from a visit in 2014 to the Isle of Lewis, one of the Hebridean islands off the north-west coast of Scotland. My wife, Kate, and I had our interest piqued by a book written by Colin Peckham published in 2011 called Sounds From Heaven: The Revival on the Isle of Lewis, to which we were introduced by a friend. The book describes what happened in the Scottish Hebrides just after WWII. The key seems to have been two elderly sisters, Peggy and Christine Smith, one who was blind and one who crippled with arthritis. These women were confined to their home in the small town of Barvas on the Isle of Lewis but they were great women of prayer and late in 1949 they held prayer meetings in their house. These prayer meetings, to pray for the terrible spiritual state in the area, often went from the evening until early morning. They sensed God speaking to them from the verse: “I will pour water on thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground (Isaiah 44:3). Others gathered over the next weeks in a local barn and the local blacksmith, John Smith, prayed some verses from Psalm 24:
“Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive blessing from the LORD,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation”
The blacksmith prayed: “God, are my hands clean and is my heart pure”.
Those present reported that the building shook and all we aware of the presence of God. The group left the building around 3am
The barn near Barvas where the building shook during the prayer meeting in 1949. Photo taken on a visit in 2014
and found people kneeling along the roads and crying out to God for His mercy. Many gathered at the police station as the local policeman was known to be a godly man. Shortly after, the Rev Duncan Campbell, a well-known Scottish evangelist came to hold a series of meetings in the Barvas Church of Scotland and his first meeting started at 9pm and everyone had left by 10:45pm. Then, as described on the Romans10:15 site –
“With everyone having departed from the church, and Duncan Campbell and a young deacon being the only ones left, that young man, knowing God was going to do something much more that night, in the middle of the aisle, said to Campbell: “Nothing has broken out tonight, but God is hovering over us. He is hovering over us, and he will break through any moment.”
That young man then lifted his hands and started to pray, “God, you made a promise to pour water on the thirsty and floods upon the dry ground and you are not doing it.” He then intensely began interceding in prayer for a considerable period of time then collapsed to the floor.
At around 11 p.m. the back door of the church opened and a man entered saying, “Mr. Campbell, something wonderful has happened. Mr. Campbell, we were praying that God would pour water on the thirsty and floods upon the dry ground and listen, He’s done it! He’s done it! Will you come to the door and see the crowd that is here?” It was then that Campbell witnessed many hundreds of people entering the church. No one had invited them. They had been drawn sovereignly by God, at that late hour of the evening. By 12 midnight the church was crowded out.”
A sovereign move of God had occurred, drawing people to Himself. People became aware of their sin and God’s holiness and there was widespread repentance on the Island as people gathered together for daily messages by Duncan Campbell with prayer meetings that lasted into the early hours.
We visited the church at Barvas in the summer of 2014 , where Duncan Campbell had preached, and had the good fortune to meet and then spend several days with Dolag and Agnes, two elderly women who were teenagers when the Lewis revival had taken place. They spoke about remarkable events of their youth and how Campbell gave talks each evening and the prayer meetings would last into the early morning. They said that they would go off to school the next day but never felt tired. We also met the son of the blacksmith and went to a prayer meeting at the Barvas Church and met others who had experienced the revival in the early 1950s. We wondered: why did God move so powerfully on the small Scottish island hidden away from the world? At that stage there were no telephones and the only form of travel were ferries from the mainland.
Of course, we don’t know the answer – God is sovereign but He does act in response to prayer from His people.
A few years later we did find a surprise connection to current events and the Lewis revival. We discovered that President Donald Trump’s mother Mary Anne McLeod was born on the Isle of Lewis and grew up there . Her aunts were Peggy and Christine Smith, the praying women behind the Lewis revival. Trump went to the Presbyterian church in New York and has a spiritual foundation going back to the remarkable events in Lewis. The impacts of Trump’s spiritual foundations are very significant. For example, there is no doubt that the Roe v Wade abortion law would not have been overturned without President Trump’s appointment of God-fearing Supreme Court judges.
It is hard from day-to-day to see the works of God and His sovereign hand. When things looked bleak at various times in history, God Himself intervened, stirring the hearts of His people as people repented (which means literally changing your mind) and turned back to Him. We are living in difficult and dangerous times and along with Dr Michael Brown, I see our only hope is for God to revive His church. He has done it continuously over the last 3,000 years and will do it again in response to prayer from His people and reading of His Word.
WORLD EVENTS – STORIES THAT CAUGHT MY ATTENTION
The War Against Farmers
When you hear that Dutch farmers are staging large protests and bringing their farm equipment and tractors into the cities, you know that something is amiss . Dutch farmers are conservative and not given to aggressive action, unless the threat to their livelihoods is severe. Steven Wilkinson wrote an excellent post this week in his “Pitchfork Papers” - and this quote from his post puts the current situation in a wider context:
“As Tacitus, the premier Roman historian keenly observed “The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates.” And with the tax codes, statutes, norms and compliance standards running to millions of pages in every single “advanced” society today, requiring ever larger bureaucratic fiefdoms and agencies to oversee and perpetuate their adherence by an increasingly exhausted productive citizenry..”
In every country, governments are attempting to regulate and legislate small farmers out of business and the apparent “crisis” is methane production from cattle and sheep as well as nitrogen run off from fertilizers. Threats have been made by the UK government to decrease ruminant numbers by the millions and the current item in vogue in Europe and the UK is “rewilding”. My favourite story about bureaucrats overseeing such projects is in the reintroduction of wolves to the Pyrenees. Not surprisingly the wolves have attacked sheep flocks and after many complaints by French and Spanish farmers, the EU solution has been to create a school for shepherds and subsidize them working in the Alps. The ultimate aim of the “rewilders” seems to be the elimination of humans and meat producing animals from the countryside.
The Dutch situation is illustrative, as Holland is the second most important agricultural exporter and Dutch farmers are acknowledged to be amongst the most efficient and productive internationally. The proposals by the Dutch government would result in a radical decrease in livestock numbers (by 30-70%) and there are estimates that more than 11,000 farms will have to shut down. Canada has now followed the path of the Dutch government with Justin Trudeau ordering a 30% reduction in nitrogen fertilizer use. In Europe, Natura 2000 - is the EU’s project to “protect biodiversity” and these areas are planned to be expanded and farming enterprises targeted because of “environmental threats”. It is worthwhile reading the article in The New American by William F. Jasper - as it provides an overview of the war against farmers which is coming to a country near you. Jasper makes the point that this war is a global one. He writes:
“Perhaps you’re beginning to get the picture that this is not just a Dutch farmer thing. Farmers in Denmark, Belgium, Germany, and France are facing the same fate, as are farmers in Canada, Australia, Japan, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Brazil, Ethiopia, and the United States. In fact, farmers and ranchers everywhere are being targeted by the globalists for destruction and assimilation into “scalable” China-style corporate megafarms.”
The plans of the globalists are for us to eat insects and synthetic meat like products. Of course the wider aim is human population reduction to “save the planet”.
Australian farmers are independent and efficient but undoubtedly, UN bureaucrats, armed with paperwork and computer models forecasting destruction of the planet, are coming to shut down Australian farming. We are being trapped in a pincer movement with a manufactured energy crisis and a coming food crisis. We need to prepare as the global juggernaut targeting us will be hard to push off the road.
The Mar-a-Lago Raid
On August 8th, 30 FBI agents executed a search warrant on President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. This extraordinary event which shows the desperation by Democrats to keep Trump in the spotlight and to try to obtain a criminal indictment, is unprecedented in US history. The raid was approved by a judge acting on secret evidence placed before a Grand Jury but the reasons for the raid are still unknown because of redactions in the released affidavit. Now a “special master” – in effect a neutral adjudicator – has been appointed by US District Court judge Aileen Cannon.
This is a significant development in the document seizure as the Justice Department has been prevented from continuing its examination of the documents while the “special master” evaluates the Trump team claims of privilege. Judge Cannon said
“The Supreme Court did not rule out the possibility of a former President overcoming an incumbent President on executive privilege matters.”
This issue will not be resolved quickly and will be a major issue on both sides of politics with the mid-term elections only 2 months away. The politicization of the Justice Department is clear however, with leaks in the past few day to the Washington Post about what documents were seized. The aim of Biden and his minders seems to be to secure an indictment of Trump before the mid-term elections to make Trump the issue for the elections and so masking the dismal failure of the Democrats on every front. With the CIA, FBI and Justice Department employing its considerable resources against Trump and in conjunction with the media, they could be successful.
The Biden Speech About “MAGA Republicans”
Many commentators have noted details about the staging and lighting for Joe Biden’s speech on 1st September from Independence Hall in Philadelphia (incidentally – now one of the most violent cities in the US), where the imagery brought to mind Hitler’s rallies or those by the evil empire of Star Wars. Zero Hedge reported that Biden gave “the most provocative and divisive speech in modern American history.
Biden’s failures in relation to the economy, defense, energy and protection of the US borders are being denied as the administration tries to make the issue about Donald Trump and what they claim is a “threat to democracy”. In seeking to make half the country “the enemy”, it seems as though there is an attempt to incite conflict and provoke Republicans. Division in America is becoming more evident each day. Surely, the “threat to democracy” is something that only hard-line Democrats believe. If there are fair mid-term elections, there should be control of the House and Senate by the Republicans as the Biden administration’s failures severely impact the wallets of every American. The only issue is whether the Republicans have the strength and resolve to provide solutions, are prepared to investigate the Justice Department, impeach Biden and stand for freedom and against the “New World Order”.
The Pfizer Vaccine and Miscarriage
As detailed in last weeks “Sons of Issachar Newsletter”, there has been an extraordinary suppression of information demonstrating serious adverse impacts of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. This last week, I have read two articles that shone some light on the horrifyingly high rates of miscarriage after the Pfizer mRNA coronavirus vaccine was given to pregnant women. The forced release of Pfizer ‘s own documents, opposed for release by the FDA, demonstrated that the miscarriage rate was 87.5% for women who became pregnant during the trial and whose pregnancy outcomes were known. However, Pfizer failed to record the outcomes of 238 out of 274 pregnancies in the trial, which doesn’t meet the basic requirements of documentation. Menstrual irregularities also have been widespread in women injected with the Pfizer vaccine and in the Technocracy News article, it notes that there also is a worldwide decrease in the reproduction rate after vaccination. Further granularity to this story was provided by the Australian journalist, Rebecca Weisser in the Australian Spectator magazine last week. She reported that Dr Luke McLindon, a leading fertility doctor in Queensland, noted that after the recommendation by health experts that women could have COVID vaccinations at any stage of pregnancy, the miscarriage rate more than doubled. Ms Weisser highlights similar concerning data about increased rates of miscarriage from Canada, Germany and the US. There are few reports in the mainstream media of the impact of the mRNA vaccines on reproduction and Ms Weisser notes “the regulator, the pharmaceutical company and the medical establishment is doing everything that it can to prevent it emerging.” From first principles, administration of any vaccines or medications during pregnancy should be avoided. One can only surmise that vaccine administration to pregnant women is part of a wider plan for population control.
What Next for the United Kingdom?
Boris Johnson handed his resignation to the Queen this last week and has declared himself to be “like a booster rocket – splashing down after fulfilling its function”. Boris will be missed for his turn of phrase, energy and charisma but in a positive for Boris, it seems that he now has amazing earning potential with a reported sum of £2 million being offered by JP Morgan for 6 speeches over the next 12 months.
Meanwhile the new PM, Liz Truss went to Balmoral to “kiss hands” with the Queen. This is an ancient tradition where the Prime Minister by kissing hands was symbolizing his or her loyalty to the Crown. While the ceremonial appointment is called “kissing hands”, no kissing actually takes place. This was the Queen’s last formal act.
In a later speech, Liz Truss has stressed her commitment to conservative principles and said that she will “deliver, deliver, deliver”. It is unclear what she is going to deliver as structural problems in the UK and a previous commitment to green energy will make it difficult to reduce inflation (estimated to rise to 22% next year), find new energy sources, fix a moribund National Health Service and stop the arrival of illegal migrants. The civil service holds great power in the UK and has the ability to put bureaucratic barriers in place to policies that they don’t agree with. Truss’ first policy announcement was to cap energy bills at £2,500 per household over the next 2 years. The cost of this policy is estimated at £150-200 billion, or more than £3,000 for every man, woman and child in the UK. The markets have responded by devaluing the pound to the lowest level in almost 40 years against the US dollar. I listened to Truss’ first Question Time in Parliament this week, and she was adept and clear about her intentions to implement conservative policies that enable people to keep more of their own money rather than having the government take it. She will have to hold her nerve as political, economic and social forces gather against her.
The Death of the Queen
The Queen’s death was unexpected, given that only 48 hours before, she appointed the new British Prime Minister at Balmoral. Her famous speech in South African on her 21st birthday, when she committed herself to a life of service, was a life mission and although much less charismatic than her sister Margaret, the Queen gained the admiration of all. Fifteen British Prime Ministers came and went during her reign and it is sad that her health deteriorated so rapidly in the last months of her 70 year reign and Platinum Jubilee year. It is the end of an era. As Head of the Church of England, she had a personal faith in Jesus. In contrast, King Charles III has said that he will be a defender of “faith” more generally not just Christian faith. Charles is a committed globalist and supporter of the “new world order” who has more in common with Greta Thunberg than his UK “subjects”. Already he has shown himself to be more interventionist in government policies and he undoubtedly will cause division in the UK in contrast to his mother, who remained neutral as governments of the right and left of politics came and went. I saw a lovely interview with Nigel Farage, the Brexit advocate last night who reported that President Trump asked the Queen: who was your favourite US President? The Queen’s response: “I liked them all”! I suspect that there will be an outbreak of Republicanism around the Commonwealth over the next few years.